Clean and Jerk

Take 5 minutes to warm up a bit beyond your clean and jerk weight for the WOD.

Post loads to comments.
_____________________ 

A) AMRAP, 8 minutes:
1 Clean 185/125
1 Jerk 185/125
2 Cleans
2 Jerks
3 Cleans
3 Jerks 

 Rest 5 Minutes 

B) AMRAP, 8 Minutes:
10-20-30-40-50-… of:
Double-Unders
AbMat Sit-Ups 

Rest 5 Minutes 

C) AMRAP, 8 Minutes:
30 Russian Kettlebell Swings
10 Burpees

Post rounds and Rx to comments.

All the pull-ups at last Sunday’s Subway Series event | Photo by Ewan B.

Schedule Changes

• ACTIVE RECOVERY ON SATURDAYS AT NOON IS CANCELLED INDEFINITELY. This class has had consistently low attendance for a while, and we’re nixing it. Check out Active Recovery at 11am on Saturday or Sunday to get your weekend mobility fix.  
• The following classes are CANCELLED this week and next week:
  • Yoga for Athletes today, 8/29 
  • Pilates on Tuesday, 9/1
• LABOR DAY UPDATES: The following classes will be offered as a modified schedule for Labor Day. Please note the changes to the morning and evening classes:
  • 6:30pm
  • 8:00am
  • 9:00am
  • 10:00am
  • 12:00pm
  • 4:30pm
  • 5:30pm

Come Party on Degraw Street With Our Neighbors Today from 12-5pm!

DanceWave—a nonprofit Brooklyn based dance center—is moving to Degraw and hosting a block party today between 12-5pm. Businesses on our block—between 3rd and 4th—will be participating. Brooklyn Boulders will be setting up an outdoor obstacle course and the School of Rock will offer music lessons. CFSBK’s Comp team will display their super human skills outdoors from 2:30pm onwards. Come join in the festivities!

_____________________
Exercise, Government Style Starting Strength
No, You Do Not Have To Drink 8 Glasses of Water a Day The New York Times
Stop Wasting Time in the Gym CrossFit Invictus

We’re loving the incredible photos Thomas H. and Ewan B. got from last Sunday’s fourth and final Subway Series event. Check them out in our Flickr account!

• The following classes are CANCELLED this week and next week:
  • Yoga for Athletes on Saturday, 8/29 
  • Pilates on Tuesday, 9/1
• Congrats to Kristin C., who got married last weekend! In her words: “It was a magical time at Blue Hill Stone Barns in Westchester. Right now we are traveling (and eating) our way through Japan for two weeks!” Check out some photos of Kristin and her husband Marcello at their wedding here and here!
• Lose something recently? Check out our latest batch of lost and found items here and here!
• Happy birthday, Rob U.!

Got Plans Tomorrow? Come Party on Degraw Street!

DanceWave—a nonprofit Brooklyn based dance center—is moving to Degraw and hosting a block party this Saturday between 12-5pm. Businesses on our block—between 3rd and 4th—will be participating. Brooklyn Boulders will be setting up an outdoor obstacle course and the School of Rock will offer music lessons. CFSBK’s Comp team will display their super human skills outdoors from 2:30pm onwards. Come join in the festivities!

_____________________ 
Why Eating Late at Night Might Be Particularly Bad for You and Your Diet The Washington Post
Lactic Acid Is Not Muscles’ Foe, It’s Fuel The New York Times
New NASA research points to an “unavoidable” rise of several feet for the Earth’s oceans Quartz

EMOM For 16 Minutes:
Even: 1 Snatch
Start at 70% and go up a few pounds each rep if it’s moving well.
Odd: 5-7 Tempo Ring Dips, Tempo Ring Push-Ups, or Tempo Push-Ups
2-2-X-2 Tempo (2 sec down, 2 sec hold bottom, explode up, 2 sec hold top) 

Exposure 3/8
Post loads to comments.
_____________________ 

3 Rounds For Time:
Row 500m
Run 400m 

Post rounds and Rx to comments.

Coach K HarpZ is in Florida on vacation and she tried to take a cool photo doing a pistol on a paddle board for the blog. In her words, it ended up not running so smoothly, as she was a couple beers deep/full of wings and chili after lunch at the local pub… so that may have played a factor… or at least she’d like to think so. 

• The following classes are CANCELLED this week and next week:
  • Active Recovery today, 8/27
  • Yoga for Athletes on Saturday, 8/29 
  • Pilates on Tuesday, 9/1

A Letter to New CrossFitters: Good Training Habits 

The original version of this article appeared on David’s blog, Inside the Affiliate. 

Below is a short article we ask all our new members to read when they graduate from our Foundations program. At CFSBK, we believe it’s important to guide our members’ training perspectives early on. The sooner we can get folks thinking about how to make proactive, intelligent training decisions, the more likely they’ll optimize their time under our roof.

While it’s our responsibility as coaches to teach movement, program wisely, and generally take care of folks, it’s your job as an athlete to listen to your body, track your workouts, and maintain a mature perspective about why you’re doing CrossFit in the first place. For some athletes, this may be completely intuitive, but most folks walking through our doors will need to be taught even the most basic components of serious physical training. Many people pursue CrossFit because they want to lose some weight or a friend does it and it sounds fun—not necessarily because they’ve suddenly decided to eat, sleep, and breath CrossFit. (The obsession part happens organically, after they’ve been exposed to its benefits.)

With that in mind, the commercial fitness industry’s claims of quick fixes and supposed “secrets” to success may have influenced peoples’ perspectives and expectations when they arrive at our gym, and it behooves us to disabuse them of such false messaging. Messages such as the one below are part of a larger dialogue that CFSBK is constantly facilitating, with the aim of giving our members the most accurate and honest advice about what it takes to adopt a healthy lifestyle. 

Hopefully, all of you have already read this article. But a good refresher never hurt anyone…

Good Training Habits

While it’s our responsibility as coaches to teach you movement, program intelligently, and keep you safe, it’s your responsibility as athletes to develop good training habits. Here is an overview of three great habits that will significantly enrich your training experience.

1. Be Proactive With Your Movement Prep
Everyone needs to do a little personalized maintenance on their bodies. Even 10 minutes of DIY movement prep before class can go a long way in keeping you fit and pain free. After you’ve signed in and changed, take advantage of the time you’ve got and start moving. 

Warm-up
Row an easy 300-500m on the erg. Get your heart rate up a little and try to get a light sweat going. We recommend holding 20 strokes per minute and rehearsing good form. 

Stretch/Foam Roll
Many of us know where our tightest areas are—they’re the ones that make it difficult to squat below parallel or press a barbell overhead. Spend a few minutes mobilizing and doing some soft tissue work (foam roller/LAX ball, etc.) on your “problem areas.” If you don’t know where to begin, ask a coach what you should be prioritizing and we’ll help you out. We also regularly refer our members to out Active Recovery classes and MobilityWOD.com. This is great resource for folks who need simple, effective strategies to help them move better. 

2. Log All of Your Workouts
Training without logging is like driving without a road map. You don’t know where you’ve been or where you’re going. Taking notes on each training session helps you track your progress and helps us make informed decisions about how to assist you in choosing weights and scaling movements. Each day should list some quantitative and qualitative notes about your training session. Here is an example:

Warm-Up:
3 rounds NFT
5 Snatch PP (22lb bar)
5 OHS
5 Muscle Snatches
10 Push-ups on knees 

Move up to yellow bar

AMRAP 15 minutes:
Row 350m
12 Overhead Squats, 45lbs 
4 Rounds + 320m 

Kept rows at about 2:23 splits, felt hard but doable. Don’t shift forward during overhead squats…. Mid foot!

You can track your workouts in a journal or online. As coaches, we LOVE to read the details of your workout in the Comments section of CFSBK’s blog. It gives us a deeper perspective into your training and the programming in general. 

3. Start Slow and Maintain Perspective
We take our training seriously at CrossFit South Brooklyn and with that comes with a good deal of responsibility. Our movement pool uses serious strength and conditioning exercises in order to develop broad, inclusive fitness. If we don’t treat these movements and workouts with respect, training plateaus and injuries are sure to follow. The best way to ensure your success and training longevity with us is by starting slowly and developing a rock-solid technical base. In fact, the first few months you start CrossFit, intensity should not be a significant concern. The movements are potent enough that just consistently performing them will create a favorable adaptation. After you feel really comfortable with most of our exercises and have a working knowledge of your weights, only then should you start ramping up the intensity. 

Training with a lifelong perspective is incredibly important. Remember that you’re here to build yourself up, not break yourself down. Scaling workouts properly, listening to your body and checking your ego at the door will allow you to work out successfully for years to come. Most importantly, have fun with this stuff and enjoy the process.

Coach Fox wrote an article in May of 2014 that expands on many of these themes, called “Tips on How to be Prepared and Get the Most Out of Group Classes.” Check it out!

_____________________ 
Ben Smith: 5×5 Front Squat CrossFit 

Performance:
Medium Intensity
Back Squat 75-80% x 5 x 2
Front Squat 75-80% x 5 x 2

Add a few pounds to your last medium intensity day.
Exposure 4/16 

Fitness:
Front Squat 3 x 8
Add a few pounds to your 3 x 10 exposure last week. 
Exposure 3/8

Post loads to comments.
_____________________ 

AMRAP 20 Minutes:
20 Thrusters 95/65
20 Pull-Ups
20 Double-Unders 

The thrusters should be light enough to do a few unbroken sets, but if you’ve never done an Rx’d barbell on “Fran,” then use today to push the weight a bit. Similarly with pull-ups, the intention is to kip through them in 1 or 2 sets early on. Scale some volume if needed or use bands or ring rows, but today is a good day to slog through some volume on a challenging version. Scale double-unders if needed to 10 attempts or 50 singles.

Post rounds and Rx to comments.

CFSBK Power Couple Mary and Dima M. just spent a week on the amazing island of Kauai. Here’s a photo of them kayaking along the Napali Coast! | We love seeing photos of your adventures—and hearing about your promotions, events, art, personal victories, discoveries, media campaigns, and small government coup d’états! Send awesomeness to Kate, our Managing Editor, at Katharine [at] CrossFitSouthBrooklyn.com. 

• The following classes are CANCELLED this week and next week:
  • Active Recovery on Thursday, 8/27
  • Yoga for Athletes on Saturday, 8/29 
  • Pilates on Tuesday, 9/1

• Happy birthday, Kevin G.! 

Got Plans This Saturday? Come Party on Degraw Street!

DanceWave—a nonprofit Brooklyn based dance center—is moving to Degraw and hosting a block party this Saturday between 12-5pm. Businesses on our block—between 3rd and 4th—will be participating. Brooklyn Boulders will be setting up an outdoor obstacle course and the School of Rock will offer music lessons. CFSBK’s Comp team will display their super human skills outdoors from 2:30pm onwards. Come join in the festivities!

_____________________
Age Is Irrelevant When It Comes to Fitness Outside 

Jude G. and Amy M. during the Trans Rockie run. Jude is on the left, at the summit on the second day. Amy is on the right, celebrating after their final day back at camp. The pics don’t feature their CFSBK tees, but they promise they wore them with pride but under many layers since Colorado is cold at night. Read more about their experience below!

• The following classes are CANCELLED this week, as Coach Whit and KH left yesterday for Iceland:
  • Pilates on Tuesday, 8/25, and Tuesday, 9/1
  • Active Recovery on Thursday, 8/27
  • Yoga for Athletes on Saturday, 8/29 
• Happy birthday, Eleanor M.!

A Letter From Jude G. to David and CFSBK, About the Trans Rockies Run

Hi David and Team,

I wanted to send you a note expressing my gratitude for creating such a unique and supportive community at CFSBK. 

A week ago I finished the three-day Trans Rockies run—a 58-mile race through the Colorado Rockies. The event was grueling—13 to 25 miles each day on varying terrain from exposed mountain top to dense woods. My lungs and heart worked hard climbing peaks over 12K and my quads were severely tested running down a mountainside for miles.

Before joining CFSBK, everything about the Trans Rockies Run would have seemed impossible—the miles, the altitude, the course, even camping out each evening. I would have researched the event, admired the athletes that participated and thought, ‘That looks amazing but I can’t do that.’ However, because of my experience at CFSBK, I decided to ignore my initial reaction and I signed up for what turned into an incredible adventure.

I am very grateful to be a part of the CFSBK community, I agree with all the prior praise expressed for CFSBK—it is far from just a venue to workout. Many thanks to the talented, supportive and good humored coaches, their encouragement got me through months of training and ultimately across the finish line. I couldn’t have done it without you. 

Brooklyn-trained. Rockies-tested. 

Much love,
Jude 

P.S. I also convinced Amy M. that 58 miles through the Rocky Mountains was a good idea, so thanks again for creating a space that attracts awesome people and new friendships!

_____________________ 
The LeBron James of Weighlifting Wall Street Journal